Father's day was last Sunday. Last sunday found me at Patty's, sans internet, so here is a belated happy father's day and happy bday to my dad, who is 56 or vice versa or something:
(Wow, 5 years ago right about now I defended my PhD thesis. How time slips. Dad, do you remember the cake I drew for you on powerpoint? :) I know, i know, not enough candles... they wouldn't fit. Dude, you're too old. Powerpoint drawing functions can't handle that kind of resolution)
My dad is excellent. Not in an in-your-face, showy way - Dad is quiet strength. Or, sometimes, at his computer, a focused blue streak, tee hee. He and Mom have been married for 40 years in August. That shows a commitment most of us can only aspire to. He has in series looked after the finances and concerns of Grandpa, Mama and Dada, and Grandma, and continues to look after Mama's in the smartest way possible. He has know-how and standards that have benefitted numerous companies who may not have seen the gem in their midst, and some that have (the Navy and NASA, for two). He has put four women thru college, keeping finances smartly afloat the whole way. He co-designed, helped to build, and has maintained the house in Cheshire for nearly 24 years, and is in the process of designing his and Mom's dream home in Sedona - with green building standards, might i add (he put in geothermal heating in Cheshire way before green was cool!). He has been "in" on the computer revolution since the early '80s, tho it took him a while to warm up to cell phones (not that he really has yet, but whatever). He "gets" the stock market in a way few observers will (some of my earliest memories are of him poring over stock market graphs). He used to fly planes, and may still hold the touch-and-go-record at some airport in the southwest. He has learned to tolerate cats, and even maybe to like one (Ralfie). Perhaps most excellently, he has been Dad to the 3 of us kids, and Uncle George to 6. Great-Uncle George to 6 munchkins (OK, Heather and Josh don't qualify as munchkins anymore, but whatever). And hopefully, within a few years, Grandpa.
Retire? Not my dad. He'd be bored silly. Aw, dangit, that's where we get it. Dang that need for brainfood and accomplishment. It's not a wonder the 3 of us turned out to be achievers. Between Mom and Dad we were pretty much toast :)
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Useful irony
Of all of the hilariousness.... I am the recipient of a Life University Club Sports scholarship for the upcoming academic quarter. For mountain biking. For $1000. This danged school can't give me a penny for my friggin' Ph.D. and yet they give me a scholarship for getting muddy. How funny is that?
Speaking of muddy, my friend Kim and I did the Muddy Buddy Atlanta this morning! It was fabulous. I will post the story later, as well as some stuff and pix about my trip to Colorado, from which I returned late last night. ACBK, i thought of you this morning during the race - it was so much fun doing the muddy buddy with you in Boston! I took a few little jumps for you, and got extra muddy :)
I'm so grateful to my friends Kat and Jake for Moose-sitting while I was gone :) it brought me great comfort and joy to know that Miss Moose was well-cared for. Apparently her highness got to take several car-rides with them :) and got to visit Marietta Square and Stone Mountain! I suppose I should emphasize to them before they run out and get a dog that Moose is now 10, and that she DID NOT ALWAYS BEHAVE THIS WAY. I do wonder how many of you got an inaccurate impression of life with a large dog, after getting to know the older and calmer Moose??? Ah, well, your lives are richer with your big shoe-chewers, right? :)
Speaking of muddy, my friend Kim and I did the Muddy Buddy Atlanta this morning! It was fabulous. I will post the story later, as well as some stuff and pix about my trip to Colorado, from which I returned late last night. ACBK, i thought of you this morning during the race - it was so much fun doing the muddy buddy with you in Boston! I took a few little jumps for you, and got extra muddy :)
I'm so grateful to my friends Kat and Jake for Moose-sitting while I was gone :) it brought me great comfort and joy to know that Miss Moose was well-cared for. Apparently her highness got to take several car-rides with them :) and got to visit Marietta Square and Stone Mountain! I suppose I should emphasize to them before they run out and get a dog that Moose is now 10, and that she DID NOT ALWAYS BEHAVE THIS WAY. I do wonder how many of you got an inaccurate impression of life with a large dog, after getting to know the older and calmer Moose??? Ah, well, your lives are richer with your big shoe-chewers, right? :)
Thursday, June 14, 2007
Mountain Laurels & Memorial Day Weekend
Memorial Day weekend our cycling club took a trip to the DuPont State Forest, in western North Carolina. This time of the year, the mountain laurels are blooming - lavender and pink everywhere you look. Yay! DuPont is the same place I visited after Webster and I climbed Looking Glass. It is home to another classic trail, the Cedar Rock Trail - dubbed the "Slickrock of the East." Having ridden Moooab's Slickrock twice, I kinda wanted to see what the hullaballoo was about. Plus, there were waterfalls involved.
We got a late start on Friday, and i managed to drop in to bid bon voyage to Doug, who is now in Colorado - I wish I could have stayed much longer to visit, but I'll see him in a few weeks when I go out there! Then, a stop at REI to pick up essentials, and my bike, and off we went.
We stayed at my friend Jeff's parents' place in northern SC, which was 2 hr north of atlanta and an hour shy of DuPont. I'd have been happy to camp, but the lure of a shower and a clean lake was strong! Plus, several group members (8 total) were not "into" camping.
The first day at DuPont, we honestly did more playing in waterfalls than biking. The first set of falls (High Falls) was roaring:
We continued on down the trail to waterfall #2, Triple Falls, which had a bunch of swimmin' holes. And natural waterslid
es. Schooooop! and splat, into the pool! And yes, geoff, it's runnable in high water! Pix are the scramble down to the pools (where we found a water moccasin on the way back up, ah, life in the south) and Ryan shooting down the slide.
After a brief yummy romp down the Galax Trail (the only singletrack of the day, Siren handled it very well. My bike doctors at REI put the handlebars at a better height, and i swapped out the seat, and Siren is getting better and better) we headed over to the camp where Ryan used to work, where he and Melissa were camping. We bbq'd some bison burgers and potatoes, then went romping about the grounds. Turns out, the camp was the setting used for the 1995 movie "Heavy Weights." We had some fun crossing the famous rope bridge, then did some kayaking on the lake (pic on right is my friend Wendy Allread). Not such a bad day - tho not enough biking!!
Sunday we hit the Cedar Rock Trail. It did not disappoint. First, we took a short spur trail to Bridal Veil Falls, where you can walk under the falls to the other side of the river:
This was our last waterfall to visit - off to the trail, finally!! The Cedar Rock trail was very unusual. It connected the dots between
swaths of bare granite, all the way up to the summit. I can't remember how many times I've been hiking and said hm, that'd be fun on a bike - Well, it is!! Nice long climb, sweet 360 view at the top of the surrounding mountains, and DELICIOUS downhill.
Monday, I hit Fort Yargo (the site of Muddy Spokes) on the way back. That is one sweet set of trails. The outer loop is 12 miles of singletrack, not a lot of sustained climbing but lots of swoops and hairpins. It was a very different ride on Siren than it was on Jack, my Cannondale - I love both bikes, but oh yeah, rear suspension is nice :)
After the weekend, tues am bright and early (try 7am), I took an exam on positioning arms and legs for xrays. We also had a "surprise" final exam in intro to clinic that day. Friday I had a clinical exam, then last week a week of my lab practicals (4) and four reports due, then this week, four days of written exams (7 total), some of which will be quite ugly. No more playtime for Amy until June 14th. But very soon after.... Bastille Crack and the First Flatiron, they're goin' down!! Doug and Pattymonster, hope you're ready to go play! (Oh, yeah, Patty, did I mention I'm dragging you out with us??)
We got a late start on Friday, and i managed to drop in to bid bon voyage to Doug, who is now in Colorado - I wish I could have stayed much longer to visit, but I'll see him in a few weeks when I go out there! Then, a stop at REI to pick up essentials, and my bike, and off we went.
We stayed at my friend Jeff's parents' place in northern SC, which was 2 hr north of atlanta and an hour shy of DuPont. I'd have been happy to camp, but the lure of a shower and a clean lake was strong! Plus, several group members (8 total) were not "into" camping.
The first day at DuPont, we honestly did more playing in waterfalls than biking. The first set of falls (High Falls) was roaring:
We continued on down the trail to waterfall #2, Triple Falls, which had a bunch of swimmin' holes. And natural waterslid
es. Schooooop! and splat, into the pool! And yes, geoff, it's runnable in high water! Pix are the scramble down to the pools (where we found a water moccasin on the way back up, ah, life in the south) and Ryan shooting down the slide.
After a brief yummy romp down the Galax Trail (the only singletrack of the day, Siren handled it very well. My bike doctors at REI put the handlebars at a better height, and i swapped out the seat, and Siren is getting better and better) we headed over to the camp where Ryan used to work, where he and Melissa were camping. We bbq'd some bison burgers and potatoes, then went romping about the grounds. Turns out, the camp was the setting used for the 1995 movie "Heavy Weights." We had some fun crossing the famous rope bridge, then did some kayaking on the lake (pic on right is my friend Wendy Allread). Not such a bad day - tho not enough biking!!
Sunday we hit the Cedar Rock Trail. It did not disappoint. First, we took a short spur trail to Bridal Veil Falls, where you can walk under the falls to the other side of the river:
This was our last waterfall to visit - off to the trail, finally!! The Cedar Rock trail was very unusual. It connected the dots betweenswaths of bare granite, all the way up to the summit. I can't remember how many times I've been hiking and said hm, that'd be fun on a bike - Well, it is!! Nice long climb, sweet 360 view at the top of the surrounding mountains, and DELICIOUS downhill.
Monday, I hit Fort Yargo (the site of Muddy Spokes) on the way back. That is one sweet set of trails. The outer loop is 12 miles of singletrack, not a lot of sustained climbing but lots of swoops and hairpins. It was a very different ride on Siren than it was on Jack, my Cannondale - I love both bikes, but oh yeah, rear suspension is nice :)
After the weekend, tues am bright and early (try 7am), I took an exam on positioning arms and legs for xrays. We also had a "surprise" final exam in intro to clinic that day. Friday I had a clinical exam, then last week a week of my lab practicals (4) and four reports due, then this week, four days of written exams (7 total), some of which will be quite ugly. No more playtime for Amy until June 14th. But very soon after.... Bastille Crack and the First Flatiron, they're goin' down!! Doug and Pattymonster, hope you're ready to go play! (Oh, yeah, Patty, did I mention I'm dragging you out with us??)
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Mid-exams.....
It seems that my days here at school follow a pattern: of our 11 week quarters, the first three weeks are filled with getting to know our schedules and classes, then the next three with midterms, then about a week or two to breathe, then two weeks of lab practicals followed by a week of lecture exams. Now that I understand that my life here is one big exam, I have a better grip on what I can get away with, as you can see from prior blogs :) Nonetheless, this is a poopy time of the quarter. I'm a little burned out and it's hard to motivate myself to keep studying.
The good news is that after this quarter, I am officially halfway done with the program!!
And, better yet, I start student clinic next quarter!!!!!!! Yahoo, I get to start learning what i CAME here to learn.
In other areas of my life, I've taken to walking Moose in the late morning when I have a break from classes. It's quiet in my neighborhood then, so I can walk her without a leash. She prefers that. I've noticed the last few times we've gone, Billy has been following us. How funny is that? My daily dog-and-cat walk!!
Billy is currently weighing in at 17lb. Downright skinny for him. Actually if he loses any more, I'm taking him to the vet for a checkup.
And to add to the joy of exam week(s), I tried to turn on my AC on Sunday to discover that it's dead. i think it's either a freon leak or a dead compressor. The inside and outside fans work but I hear nothing from the compressor. Gr. Well, the house was built in 1984 and the AC is original... Sigh. The good news is that I have a slush fund in my bank account for things just like this. If there's one thing I've learned as a homeowner, it's to try to keep some padding around.
After all, keeping the Moose cool is very high priority :)
In fun-news, I am headed off to Colorado in ten days to play. Whee! Plus, I have a memorial day post I have written but have yet to put up, I'm waiting for a picture from my friend Ryan to add to it. So, check back within a few days if ya wanna see pretty pictures of a fabulous weekend in Western North Carolina...
The good news is that after this quarter, I am officially halfway done with the program!!
And, better yet, I start student clinic next quarter!!!!!!! Yahoo, I get to start learning what i CAME here to learn.
In other areas of my life, I've taken to walking Moose in the late morning when I have a break from classes. It's quiet in my neighborhood then, so I can walk her without a leash. She prefers that. I've noticed the last few times we've gone, Billy has been following us. How funny is that? My daily dog-and-cat walk!!
Billy is currently weighing in at 17lb. Downright skinny for him. Actually if he loses any more, I'm taking him to the vet for a checkup.
And to add to the joy of exam week(s), I tried to turn on my AC on Sunday to discover that it's dead. i think it's either a freon leak or a dead compressor. The inside and outside fans work but I hear nothing from the compressor. Gr. Well, the house was built in 1984 and the AC is original... Sigh. The good news is that I have a slush fund in my bank account for things just like this. If there's one thing I've learned as a homeowner, it's to try to keep some padding around.
After all, keeping the Moose cool is very high priority :)
In fun-news, I am headed off to Colorado in ten days to play. Whee! Plus, I have a memorial day post I have written but have yet to put up, I'm waiting for a picture from my friend Ryan to add to it. So, check back within a few days if ya wanna see pretty pictures of a fabulous weekend in Western North Carolina...
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